Why Harry Asked Luna to Slughorn's Christmas Party
by sunset oasis
Summary: Blaise wanted to know more about Luna, but he wasn't familiar enough with her to ask her to Slughorn's Christmas Party. However, he suspected he could get Harry Potter to bring her to the party. He knew how he could bargain with Potter, since Draco, Blaise's best friend, was Potter's current obsession (if current means "for the last five years"). Drarry. Bluna. -COMPLETE-
1. The Girl Who Caught Blaise's Interest

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter_

* * *

He didn't notice her at first. She wasn't the most pretty and sexy girl around. Too many Ravenclaw girls knew both how to study and how to dress fashionably, but Luna Lovegood was never the type to pay much attention to the latest fashion trends. And Blaise Zabini dated way too many Ravenclaw girls who got attracted to the Slytherin bad boy aura he possessed.

But then it was hard _not_ to notice her when she spoke. True, overlooking her interest in some magic species that apparently no one else had ever seen, she was actually scaringly insightful. Extremely perceptive and shockingly honest with her observations. But most people never seemed to realize this, as they had already dismissed her as crazy after the wrackspurts or nargles comments. However, this interested Blaise. For someone priding himself with excellent observation skills, he did quite appreciate a perceptive person that could see the truth behind many things and make spot-on comments.

It took one to appreciate one, after all.

What's more interesting, he had to admit, was that she wasn't really charmed by him. To Blaise, he had originally thought that as a general rule, Ravenclaw girls usually found Slytherin boys charming, with good enough grades and brain that rivaled their own but with a little more dark charm than their fellow Ravenclaws. He knew that not every Slytherin boy had the ability to charm most Ravenclaw girls, but he was one of the very most attractive in his house. This was, of course, an arrogant thought, but nevertheless quite true. He didn't overestimate himself, but he never see the reason to deny what he was really good at.

Her being not attracted to him was exactly what attracted his attention to her. He wasn't hurt and his pride wasn't wounded, but his curiosity surely got piqued. He found himself wanting to get to know her better.

When a Slytherin wanted something, they did whatever they could to succeed.

* * *

Blaise scanned around the Great Hall and his eyes landed on Harry Potter at the Gryffindor table. The Golden Boy himself was staring at the Slytherin table, his gaze landing exactly on the seat just on Blaise's right, where Draco Malfoy, a.k.a Harry Potter's biggest obsession, sat.

Blaise had found Potter was stalking Draco a lot this year. ("How did you notice that, unless you're also stalking Draco or Potter?" Pansy had asked. Blaise had merely scoffed, "I have eyes, Pansy.") He knew that Draco was on some secret mission and Potter had been dying to find it out. While the Golden Trio probably all wanted to know, it was Potter who was most obsessive with the stalking.

Then something occurred to him. Wasn't Potter quite friendly with Luna Lovegood? Blaise couldn't really have much deep talk with the eccentric girl when he was at Ravenclaw Tower (because he was usually there only when he got invited by another girl and that other girl probably wouldn't appreciate him chatting deeply with 'Looney' Lovegood when he was supposed to focus on her). He didn't want to invite her to a party or Hogsmeade at this stage either, when they didn't know each other well. Shagging was one thing, but Blaise didn't like taking girls out publicly, for fear of they might over-interpret themselves as more than a shagging buddy. (Blaise didn't like it when girls got to attaching and clingy, it irked him.)

Looking speculatively at Potter, Blaise thought that maybe it would be a good idea to let someone else invited Luna Lovegood to a party where he could use the chance to chat with her. Potter, he knew, was one of the few friends of the girl. Maybe if he could ask Potter to invite her ... Blaise knew that Potter had missed quite a few of Slughorn's parties now, so it wouldn't be easy to convince him to go to the Christmas Party, let alone inviting someone else to go with him.

Blaise followed Potter's gaze back to Draco, someone who was envious of him getting invited. Someone who had been throwing sulking comments around whenever Blaise went to another party. Someone, who was also Potter's biggest obsession at the moment (or for more than 5 years, in some way).

He instantly knew how to bargain with Potter to ask the Golden Boy to do him a favour.

-TBC-

* * *

 _A.N:_

 _Just a idea I suddenly got so I decided to quickly write it down ... even when I have an exam coming up next week. Damn._

 _For those waiting for the updates of my longer stories, I'm sorry but you might have to wait a while, I'll continue them after the exam. (Sometimes, real life just gets in the way)._

 _Thanks for reading, R &R please : )_


	2. Stalking, RoR, and a Basket of Apples

When Draco Malfoy, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, stood up from the Slytherin table that Saturday morning after breakfast, Harry quickly glanced at the remaining scrambled eggs in his plate, and turned to Ron, "Would you like to eat some more? I'm full."

"Sure, Harry," Ron agreed, "but you really should eat more, you're too skinny."

Paying no attention to Ron's comment and Hermione chiming in 'yeah, Harry' in agreement, Harry replied a quick "thanks" and grabbed his bag, then he dashed out of the great hall, slipping his invisibility cloak on as soon as he got out. He wanted to find out what Malfoy was off doing.

Luckily, he was quick enough, so Harry caught the sight of the pale blond hair near the end of the corridor. He ran after it in an alarming speed as if his life depended on it.

With all his quidditch training, sprinting down the hallway proved to be easy for Harry's athletic body. He closed in quickly but kept some distance between them so as not to be heard.

Harry soon realized why it was pretty easy to catch up with Malfoy. As is turned out, the blond wasn't walking fast, and his steps seemed rather tired. His lithe and thin figure looked even smaller between Crabbe's and Goyle's large frames. He looked like a fragile doll that had been overworking, and Harry's felt his heart clench, perhaps in anticipation of whatever horrible scheme Malfoy was planning, or so he thought.

Harry rolled his eyes when he saw Crabbe and Goyle both took a dose of polyjuice potion and quickly transformed into girls. Knowing he couldn't possibly enter the Room of Requirement right now, Harry sighed and took off his invisibility cloak and decided to leave for now. He would keep an eye on Malfoy with the Marauder's Map.

* * *

Draco's progress on the cabinet wasn't very satisfying, and the lack of progress was taking its toll on him. He hadn't been sleeping well and was totally stressed out. After a few hours of work, he decided to head towards the kitchen and get something to eat, perhaps an apple, before going back to the Slytherin common room to do some homework. Packing his stuff, Draco left the room and waved towards Crabbe and Goyle, signaling them that they could leave for now.

The house-elves were accommodating and ended up insisting he take the whole basket of apples and they refused to be refused. Sighing, Draco took the basket, thinking that it was just no arguing with an elf's generosity.

* * *

Harry's eyes kept flying back to the Marauder's Map even as he and Ron played the Wizard's Chess, and as soon as Malfoy reappeared on the map, meaning he was out of the Room of Requirement, Harry asked Neville to take over with the chess and left the Gryffindor common room, invisibility cloak on again. He kept an eye on where Malfoy was heading towards and he soon found himself waiting outside the kitchen for the Slytherin.

Minutes later, Draco Malfoy appeared, a basket of apples on his arm. The image looked slightly funny, but Harry also realized how awful the blond looked. There were dark shadows under his eyes, and his expression was tired. Though Harry had to admit that even with the dark shadows and the visible tiredness, the Slytherin remained handsome with his sharp jawline and perfect complexion.

 _Not that I cared about what the ferret looks like,_ Harry reminded himself.

He followed Malfoy back to the Slytherin common room, but wasn't close enough to enter before the portrait swung close. Harry swore internally to himself, then took out the map to study. There was Malfoy with his usual Slytherin crowd. The labels "Vincent Crabbe" and "Gregory Goyle" were near him, but not as close as Pansy Parkinson, who was directly by his side. Harry narrowed his eyes at them, not even understanding why he suddenly felt the urge to tear up the map.

Huffing, he angrily stuffed the map back to his backpack. His anger must have caused him to make some noises because a Slytherin student walking towards their common room entrance suddenly stopped and stared suspiciously at the spot where Harry was.

When Harry put his backpack on again he found himself looking at a very wary Blaise Zabini staring at his spot. Harry cursed himself for making the noise and held his breath, hoping Zabini would just conclude that he had misheard and go away.

The problem was, Harry had underestimated Blaise Zabini.

The dark Slytherin took out his wand and gave a sharp wave and murmured, " _Serpensortia_ " and a snake burst out of his wand, heading towards where Harry stood and unable to move.

Harry involuntarily spoke in Parseltongue, "Stop!" And just when he wanted to run away, Zabini stuck out a foot to trip him and waved his wand to make the snake disappear. Focusing entirely on the snake and failed to recognize Zabini's foot until it was too late, Harry tripped over in a very Neville fashion and his cloak fell off.

* * *

Blaise watched the scene with amusement. If he had been someone who only made occasional right guesses once in a while, he might've congratulated himself. But in this case, he would be more surprised if he had been wrong about this particular guess, so finding out that he was indeed correct didn't bring out too much satisfaction.

Luckily, he found the situation amusing enough anyway.

Leaning against the wall with his wand still raised in Potter's direction, he drawled, "Dare I guess that you're stalking my dearest Draco?" He wondered if this sentence would rile Potter up.

"Your _dearest_?" Potter exclaimed.

Blaise was pretty sure that if it was Weasley, he wouldn't have reacted like this. Mostly would've just denied the stalking. Curling his lips in amusement, Blaise shrugged, "Well, he _is_ my best friend."

Potter glared him, and Blaise smirked, "why do you care?"

"I don't," Potter snapped almost vehemently, turning to leave.

"Sure," Blaise laughed, not stopping Potter leaving. However, after the Golden Boy took a few steps, Blaise spoke softly but clearly, "Want to make a deal, Potter?"

-TBC-


	3. Blaise and Harry's Deal

_A.N: Thanks to all the favorites and follows and reviews, you guys are absolutely lovely!_

 _If you like, you could also check out some artwork I made for this fic on tumblr: ff-sunset-oasis dot tumblr dot com slash post slash 145305098977_

 _R &R please : )_

* * *

"A deal?" Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Zabini. The Slytherin leant against the wall casually, eyeing him with a set of calculating eyes.

"A deal," Zabini confirmed, smirking slightly in a typical Slytherin way, just like the way Malfoy usually smirked but the blond had been too miserable to even put on a smirk or a fake smile lately – Harry forced himself to stop thinking about Draco Malfoy and focused on the current situation. He was probably about to be blackmailed by Zabini so he really should take his mind of Malfoy for a moment.

"I presume," Zabini stated in a calm voice, though Harry thought that Zabini seemed to be using the word 'know' rather than 'presume'. "That you're quite interested in what Draco's doing lately."

 _Oh yes,_ Harry thought, _I'm definitely interested in Draco Malfoy – um, I mean, what he's doing. Yeah._ He quickly said, "Yes," but then stopped suspiciously, "you can't be willing to tell me freely, you're a Slytherin. What do you want from me?"

The dark Slytherin let out an amused chuckle, "Not bad, Potter. Not bad for a naïve Gryffindor, anyway. I'll tell you about that later. Now … I won't betray Draco by directly telling you what he's doing – but I could get you both to a party and get him drunk and leave him in your hands – do what you want, then." Zabini then narrowed his eyes dangerously, "on the condition that you do NOT harm him, Potter. Or I'll make you regret it."

Harry briefly indulged himself in the fantasy of doing whatever he wanted to Draco Malfoy, then reminded himself that it was definitely a good chance to find out what Malfoy's up to … perhaps he would be more willing to spill when drunk enough. "I won't harm him," he promised Zabini quickly.

"See that you don't," Zabini agreed coolly, then he switched back to a lighter tone, "and the party I'm referring to is Slughorn's Christmas party, something, I'm sure, that you're invited to."

Harry had been avoiding Slughorn's parties for a while now, but this chance to get to a drunken Malfoy (to spill his secrets, of course, not for other stuff) was too great to pass up. "I'll be there."

"In return," Zabini drawled, "I would like to ask you to bring one of your female friends to the party, someone to keep me occupied while you, ah, spend some time with my friend Draco. Oh, by the way, the girl's my pick, not yours."

Harry frowned. He would do a lot of things for this chance, but to bring a female friend to the hands of the Slytherin playboy?

"I give you my word that I won't harm her either," Zabini promised. "Nor do I intend to break her heart."

"How do I know if I could trust you?" Harry asked the obvious question.

"You don't know," Zabini stated flatly, "but on the other hand, I'm trusting you with my best friend, too. Someone who's also your archenemy in school. And I'm making an effort, to try to trust you not to harm _him_. So …" he trailed off, looking at Harry meaningly.

 _Point taken_ , Harry thought. "Who's this female friend of mine you want me to bring, then?" He asked.

Blaise Zabini looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Luna Lovegood."

* * *

Luna Lovegood was eating dinner at the Ravenclaw table, while tilting her head slightly as she listened to Sally-Anne and Padma talking about Blaise Zabini. Really, it was interesting how many girls just seemed to see Blaise as a typical playboy. Luna wondered how people failed to realize that an old-fashioned, typical role of Casanova was actually a perfect cover to hide under. And, she had to admit, she was curious of what was hidden underneath.

She remembered an occasion where some of her housemates were discussing a novel in the Ravenclaw common room. In the novel, there was a sexy, beautiful female character whose profession was a spy. She was good at luring men to bed with her pretty looks and undeniable charm, then killing them when they let their guards down.

At that time, Luna had commented, "If you can't be anonymous, hide behind a cliché, and people will never see the real you." She'd glanced sideway at Blaise Zabini, who had been at the Ravenclaw common room at that time, having been invited by Cho Chang.

Her housemates had ignored her like usual, but Blaise, while not taking his hands off Cho, had raised his head curiously and met her gaze for a moment. She had calmly met his eyes back, her eyes full of meaning. He'd looked … almost intrigued before turning back to snog Cho.

It was after that time she found him constantly stealing interested looks at her while he was at the Ravenclaw common room. It was done quite discreetly that his dates never noticed, but Luna did.

As Luna continued to listen to Padma and Sally-Anne's conversation, she noticed a Gryffindor walking towards her. As Harry Potter sat down beside her and smiled, she couldn't help wonder what brought Harry here today, didn't he spend most of his time practically stalking Draco Malfoy these days?

"Luna," Harry began, "would you like to come to Slughorn's Christmas party with me? As a friend, that is."

Luna remembered that Blaise was one of Slughorn's favorites, and it seemed a good chance to observe him closely at somewhere other than the Ravenclaw common room. "I'd love to," she beamed at Harry.

Harry looked quite relieved at her agreement, but then looked as if wondering if he had led her on, as he quickly added again, "just as friends, you're okay with that, right?"

Luna was amused, "I'm okay with that, Harry. I know you're interested in boys rather than girls, and I can assure you you're not leading me on, don't worry."

Harry looked shocked for a moment, as if wondering how Luna would know when he hadn't even told Ron or Hermione that he was gay. Luna mused on how easy it was to read the Gryffindors that they posed no challenges in observing at all, unlike mysterious Slytherins that hid behind clichés.

"Is that … obvious?" The Golden Boy hesitated.

"Not to everyone, I suppose," Luna shrugged.

-TBC-

* * *

 _Just some annotation ... Luna's words "If you can't be anonymous, hide behind a cliché, and people will never see the real you." was a sentence borrowed from Simon Green's The Spy Who Haunted Me, 3rd book in his Secret Histories series._


	4. A Conversation in Slytherin Common Room

Blaise was playing chess with Theo when Draco came back to the Slytherin common room that day. The blond looked tired and weary, and the black shadows under his eyes darkened by each day. Blaise sighed. He was really worried about his friend, but Draco had been refusing help and unwilling to reveal what his job was since the start of the year.

It had been hard, watching his best friend like this and not knowing how to help him. Frankly, Blaise thought Draco was in too deep now that there wasn't much other Slytherins could do to help him. Draco needed … someone who had the ability to pull him out of the grasp of Voldemort, someone influential enough on the Light Side to protect him and his family.

That was why Blaise dared to entrust Harry Potter with a drunken Draco. He knew the Gryffindor nobleness and Potter's own … attraction towards Draco would prevent him from hurting Draco, and maybe save Draco from the dilemma he was currently in. Even if Potter couldn't save Draco … Blaise thought that at least introducing the Potter element wouldn't make things worse. At least he wouldn't harm Draco, the Golden Boy was far too Gryffindor to do so.

Draco walked over to Blaise and Theo, taking a seat on a sofa nearby. He frowned when he saw a beautiful, Christmas-themed card and picked it up to find it was the party invitation to Slughorn's Christmas party. Draco threw it back onto the sofa in annoyance and snapped, "Don't leave your stupid invitations lying around, Blaise."

Blaise raised an eyebrow at him and then shrugged unapologetically, "Well, sorry about that. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, you want to come with me?"

Draco glared at him, "Fuck off, Zabini, I'm not your charity case."

"Of course not, Draco, I don't do charity case," Blaise rolled his eyes. "I just want to bring a friend. I know you've always wanted to come—"

"I do _not_!" Draco protested hotly, knowing this was a lie. He was the Slytherin Prince, people recognized his status, and now he didn't get invited to the selected club of the Potions Master? Hell, he was jealous, but he wasn't going to admit it to Blaise. He wasn't going to admit that he cared a lot that Blaise seemed to have a higher social standing in a Slytherin professor's eyes. He wasn't going to admit that he cared a lot that Blaise got invited to the same parties that he knew Potter also got invited. (Though, according to Blaise, Potter rarely went. But still.)

Draco wasn't sure about his exact feelings towards Harry Potter. He supposed it had always been pretty mixed. There was, of course, jealousy. Jealous that he was the Golden Boy who could do no wrong, jealous that he got away with everything, being Dumbledore's favorite. Then there was anger. Angry at Potter for turning down his hand of friendship so cruelly and choosing Weasley over him. Draco never really got over that. Nobody refused a Malfoy. Ever. And Potter … he just did it, to the eleven year old who was so used of getting whatever he wanted.

Secretly, Draco was impressed. Looking back he could understand how great a prat he was at the age of eleven, and Potter was the only one who dared pointed that out to him. Of course, Ron Weasley hadn't liked him either, but that was expected – their families were long-time enemies. He knew he wouldn't bother being nice to Weasley and Weasley wouldn't be nice to him. He could handle that. But Potter – Draco hadn't been mean to Potter and reached out the hand of friendship but he still _turned it down_! He was angry … bitter … and impressed. And made him wanted that friendship with Potter even more … but being a Malfoy, he wasn't the type to go begging for a friendship when he didn't get it – there was just no _dignity_ in that.

So Draco had resolved to spitting mean insults and taunting to try to get even and Potter certainly didn't calm things down when he fought back every single time. But despite all the outward appearances, he actually still wanted to befriend Potter badly. He just couldn't swallow his pride and bitterness and do it the friendly way.

"Potter will be going this time, you know," Blaise said conversationally as he pushed his bishop across the chessboard.

"Like I cared," Draco spat. But he knew he did. He knew he had felt slightly better when Blaise said Potter didn't went to some of the parties – it made Draco feel like he missed less of the fun. Now Potter would be going to this one – he wanted to be there, to ruin Potter's Christmas, to fight with him. He knew Blaise often said he was too obsessed with Harry Potter, and he really was, but he never admitted that it was more complicated than just rivalry between them.

"Didn't say you did," Blaise smirked knowingly. "Just mentioning it in passing. No need to react in such a … dramatic way."

The most annoying thing about best friends, was that they knew you too well. Draco resisted the urge to hex Blaise and decided to steer subject away from Potter. "Why don't you ask a girl to go with you?" He demanded.

Blaise shrugged, "Don't feel like it. You know how I don't like taking girls to parties because that made then think they're so special and gets too clingy when I'm not really interested in going deeper. Anyway, I'm not taking anyone so if you decided to come anytime, there's a spot for you, yeah? Mate, you look like you could do with some partying and relaxation, you're too stressed these days."

Draco wanted to tell Blaise to stuff his offer and that he wasn't interested at all, but that wouldn't really help with anything except he could felt some smug satisfaction when he turned Blaise down. But he knew he would regret not grabbing this chance only because he was too prideful to take it.

"Of course, if you don't want to, then don't," Blaise said coolly. "I certainly can chat with Potter more amicably without you and your rivalry around. He wasn't that bad for a Gryffindor, honestly—"

"You want to chat with Potter?" Draco spluttered, outraged. He told himself he was furious at Blaise for fraternizing with idiotic Gryffindors, ignoring a tinge of jealousy in his stomach.

"Well—"

"Oh, shut up," Draco snapped. "It's not my business if you want to chat with stupid Gryffindors." _Technically, that's true, but Potter's always an exception._ "Count me in for the party, don't you dare change your mind and invite some girl because I'll be going." He grabbed his bag and headed towards his dorm, not bothering to hear Blaise's response.

And not noticing that his best friend leant back casually against the sofa with a very satisfied smirk on his face.

-TBC-

* * *

 _A.N.: Thank you for all the favorites and follows and reviews, you guys are really wonderful : )_

 _Hope you all enjoy this chapter from Draco's side._


	5. The Party

_A.N.: Thanks to all the people who reviewed or favorited or followed, you are too kind : ) Hope you like this chapter, R &R please : )_

 _And, if you recognized anything familiar from this chapter, it's likely from the HBP, so it's Rowling's, not mine._

* * *

Starting from the beginning of December, Hogwarts had been filled with a celebratory atmosphere with all the Christmas decorations around. However, Draco wasn't too immersed in the celebratory mood of the school, being too stressed out with his seemingly impossible task from the Dark Lord. He spent more and more time in the Room of Requirement these days, and refused to be dragged out to fly or just a walk outside the castle. He used minimum time to finish his essays and turned his attention back to the task at hand.

He even felt like he wasn't up to attending Slughorn's Christmas Party anymore when the day finally came. His progress wasn't satisfying and he knew he would have to report some results when he went home during the Christmas holidays. With the holidays drawing nearer, he felt like he couldn't afford to spend anytime partying, even if Potter was attending the same party.

Blaise was having none of that. "You're coming to the party, this is final," his best friend said in a tone that allowed no argument. "You can't make much progress when you're so stressed out anyway, you need a night of relaxation."

Despite Blaise's persuasion, Draco still decided to work for the night. However, when Draco tried to get into the Room of Requirement that night after dinner, he found that he couldn't. He turned around and saw Blaise smirking.

"Who's inside there?" Draco demanded, suspecting that Blaise probably planted someone in there to keep Draco out.

"Definitely not you," Blaise smirked, flashing him a toothy grin. "Come on, let's go get changed for the party, I got you this new silver dress robes as early Christmas present, you'll love it." He put a hand on Draco's shoulders and steered his best friend back to the Slytherin common room, away from the Room of Requirement where Pansy and Theo were now having fun.

"I hate you," Draco said darkly, reluctantly allowing Blaise to steer him.

"I know," his best friend replied easily, not sounding the least bit bothered. Draco sighed.

* * *

Harry met Luna at the entrance hall at eight, paying no attention to the unusually large number of girls lurking there, all of whom seemed to be staring at him resentfully as he approached Luna. He gave her a smile and studied her spangled silver robes for a moment before his mind flew back to Malfoy again. Harry hoped that Zabini kept his words.

"Hi," Harry greeted Luna, "shall we get going then?"

"Oh yes," she replied with a smile and as her eyes appraised Harry, for the tiniest moment Harry felt it was exactly what it felt like to be studied by Zabini. But it had been so brief when her eyes turned back to its usual dreaminess, Harry decided that he had probably imagined it. "Where is the party?" She asked.

"Slughorn's office," said Harry, leading her up the marble staircase away from all the staring and muttering. "I wonder who would be at the party," Harry said, trying to make a conversation.

"I'm guessing Draco would," Luna said easily, and Harry couldn't help but stop suddenly.

"How did you—?" asked Harry, disconcerted. "I mean, well, he's not usually on Slughorn's favorite list of students."

"Marcus Belby said that you don't usually go to Slughorn's parties," Luna shrugged. "So I thought that based on the fact you choose to go this time, there must be some incentive. Of course, I'm just guessing."

Harry always knew Luna had a knack of pointing out uncomfortable truths, but he didn't realize that she was this insightful. He had been worried when Zabini, the famous Slytherin playboy, asked him to bring her, but now he rather thought she might actually be able to handle Zabini.

They were already approaching Slughorn's office and the sounds of laughter, music, and loud conversation were growing louder with every step they took. Whether it had been built that way, or because he had used magical trickery to make it so, Slughorn's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson, and gold hangings, so that it looked as though they were all inside a vast tent.

Harry was glad that Slughorn was busy talking to some celebrity and didn't notice him when he and Luna went in, otherwise the Potions professor would surely insisted to introduce him to various people that Harry had no interest in meeting. No, he was only interested in one particular person tonight …

"Let's go get something to drink, Harry," Luna suggested, cutting across Harry's thoughts.

Harry's eyes moved to the alcohols area and immediately noticed Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy standing near there, and Zabini seemed to be encouraging Malfoy – _Merlin, he looked so unhealthy and so thin,_ Harry thought – to drink more to relax. He wondered whether Luna suggested getting the drinks on purpose or not, though one look at her she seemed perfectly innocent.

"Sure," Harry agreed, and the two of them headed towards the alcohols area. "Let's go."

* * *

Draco saw Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood making their way over, so he put on his usual sneer, "Well, if this isn't the Chosen One".

Seeing Potter ignited something inside him, but he wasn't even sure of exactly what it was. He was extremely tired, depressed, and miserably recently and his feelings for things were so numb, but one glance at his long-time rival suddenly made all the recent numbness all go away. Potter brought up the anger and frustration and a strange sense of longing inside Draco. Granted, it wasn't a too-positive feeling such as happiness, but in some strange way, Draco enjoyed it. Their dynamics, the chemistry between them – was annoying yet satisfying in an unexplainable way.

Harry's eyes flashed and he snapped, "If this isn't the Ferret Boy."

"How wonderful, please do continue to insult each other and ignore me," Blaise drawled, but neither Draco nor Harry paid the slightest attention to him as their eyes were locked on each other with intensifying glares.

Luna watched the Gryffindor Golden Boy and Slytherin Ice Prince stood, facing each other in a tense fashion and she thought she could almost see sparks flying in the air. A small, intrigued smile played across her lips and as she helped herself to a glass of butterbeer, she turned to face Blaise and commented, "They should write a book on how to build sexual tension."

Blaise raised his eyebrows high as he studied Luna in a very close proximity for the first time, and his lips twitched in amusement, "Sorry, but I'll have to disagree with that. I mean, how can you explain to someone else how to do something, when it's comes so naturally to you and don't realize that you're doing it?"

"Point taken," she threw her head back and gave a tinkling laugh that made him take a liking to her voice immediately. Setting her drink on a table, Luna tilted her head slightly, looked Blaise into the eyes, and asked, "Want to dance?"

"Delighted," he smirked pleasantly and offered his arm to her. She took it and the two of them slid onto the dance floor gracefully and danced.

-TBC-


	6. Arguing, Kissing, Confessing

Draco didn't notice Blaise had left him and Potter to dance with Luna Lovegood, as his grey eyes were too focused on the Boy-Who-Lived. Messy dark hair that still looked attractive despite the messiness, short and lean seeker-frame, and a pair of emerald green eyes that when Draco looked straight into them they looked so deep and enchanting.

Draco couldn't help but sneer (it had become sort of a default reaction when it came to Potter), "Why aren't you being introduced to all the famous guests by Slughorn right now, like an attention seeking idiot you are?"

That did it. The words 'attention seeking' rubbed Harry off the wrong way. Harry absolutely loathed being famous and he hated people assuming that he wanted all that fame. Feeling his temper rising, Harry's face contorted into a snarl and he snapped back instinctually (because after years of rivalry, some things just became instinctual), "Why aren't you plotting some awful scheme inside the Room of Requirement, like a typical junior Death Eater you are?"

Draco tensed immediately, and his eyes burned with blazing fury. How dare Potter assume he was a Death Eater – well, technically, he really was, but that idiotic Gryffindor didn't really know! And while Draco had been working over that tedious task for months, he hated being threatened to do this and the way Potter mentioned it just ticked him off. He seethed, feeling that Potter was an ignorant fool who didn't understand anything.

"Of course, not that I needed _his_ understanding," a voice inside him said.

"But you do," another voice inside him said, in an awfully snide tone. Draco briefly wondered why he had some inner voices within him that sounded so like Blaise.

"Shut up about stuff you don't know," Draco snarled angrily, giving Potter his iciest glare.

"You're the one who should do that," Harry retorted furiously, hating the fact that Malfoy saw him as an attention seeking person.

"It doesn't matter what someone like Malfoy thought of you," Harry tried to convince himself. But he could almost imagine Luna tilting her head slightly, gazing at him with clear blue eyes instead of dreamy ones, and asking, "Is that really what you believe?"

And if Harry was absolutely honest with himself, the answer would've been, "No."

Draco glared at Harry and snapped, "Shut up, Potter! You think you're so smart, you obnoxious, arrogant bastard! But you don't understand _anything_!"

" _You_ 're the obnoxious, arrogant bastard who doesn't know a thing!" Harry responded, his temper flaring up even more.

"I hate you," Draco seethed, clenching his fist so fiercely that his knuckles turned white.

"I'll have you know," Harry spat, and as he told himself that he was definitely _not_ wounded by Draco's statement, he pushed the blond against the wall angrily, "that the feeling's fucking mutual!"

"Good," Draco snarled, ignoring the small amount of hurt inside him as anger washed over his whole body. And he couldn't help but notice how close the two of them were at this moment, how the Gryffindor's hair smelt nice, and how the stupid pair of lips that uttered so much nonsense looked so delicious. _How the hell did I land myself in this situation?_

Harry suddenly became aware of the fact of the nearly nonexistent space between the two of them, and he also felt slightly dazzled by the stormy grey eyes that contorted with pain in front of him. Then there was the blond Slytherin's pale, unhealthy looking skin that he had some uncontrollable urge to stroke. _Damn, this is very, very bad; I should back off before I lose control …_

Neither of them was sure which of them made the move first, but both would deny it to be himself, as their lips suddenly touched and they were quickly engaged in a fierce snogging that neither wanted to break off.

They didn't stop when Hermione pulled herself away from Cormac McLaggen and ran over to check on Harry, or when some older guest made disapproving noises in the background that neither of them heard. They didn't stop when the bassist and drummer of Weird Sisters looked on with interest, or when Blaise and Luna stopped dancing and went back to the alcohols area to observe the situation closely, or when Trelawney made comments about the destinies of star-crossed lovers.

Then they finally broke off, panting and gasping for breath as they stared at each other, not sure of what to make of this situation.

"Enjoyed that, Potter?" Draco drawled, breaking the silence first.

"I'm sure you both did," a voice smirked before Harry could respond. Draco and Harry spun around to see Blaise lolling against a pillar and eyeing them with a mischievous grin on his face.

"I did NOT—" both Draco and Harry protested at the same time with a lie, and eyed each other again with anger flaring inside their eyes.

"You sure did, nobody could resist a Malfoy's charm," Draco accused.

"You liar," Harry replied hotly, "You're the one who enjoyed it and you refused to admit it so you said that I did!"

"You're so full of yourself, you think you're so brilliant and everyone loves you just because you're the Chosen One—" Draco sneered.

"You think that you're so above all of us just because your family's rich and influential—" Harry shot back.

"Don't assume you know me, Potter!" Draco screeched.

"I know enough! I know that you have the Dar–" Harry snapped before being cut off by Blaise.

"Stop right there, Potter," the dark skinned Italian said in a chilling tone, "I won't have you making unfounded accusations of my friend in public when you don't know _anything._ "

"And while fighting does seem to be you two's dynamic, I don't think intentionally stabbing on the wound is good for a relationship," Luna added thoughtfully.

They all went silent for a moment before Draco said, "We're not in a relationship!"

"Though I hate to agree with Malfoy, he's right," Harry said.

Luna looked at them, then shrugged, "Well, then that's too bad, really."

"Too bad for Potter, you mean."

"Shut up, you egotistical narcissist."

"Merlin, you two are so _dense_ ," Blaise said with an exasperated sigh. "Potter, I understand, since he's a Gryffindor after all—"

"Hey!" Harry interjected indignantly.

"But Draco, you're a Slytherin, so don't be so _oblivious_ , please." Blaise finished.

"Oblivious about _what_ , Blaise?" Draco snapped.

"Your mutual obsession," Luna suggested.

"Hatred is an obsession," Draco began, "and I do realize our mutual hatred."

"As they say, there's a fine line between love and hate," Luna sing-songed.

"This is ridiculous," Harry muttered.

"I agree, your obliviousness – both of you – is ridiculous," Blaise nodded. "Right, I know you think I'm irritating so let's do this. You two tell me you both have nothing other than pure hatred towards each other and aren't in the least bit interested the other and you don't enjoy that snogging that lasted for over three minutes _at all_. Then I'll leave you alone and just dance Luna here for the rest of night. So, Potter, you go first."

Harry opened his mouth, preparing to say that he definitely wasn't interested in Malfoy and felt nothing more than pure hatred towards him and he didn't enjoy the kiss they just had. But he couldn't get it out. He tried to force himself but the lie stuck in his throat, refusing to be spoken for some unknown reason, especially when Malfoy was staring at him with some sort of anticipation and apprehension, and that just made Harry unable to lie. Harry swallowed hard and tried to speak again before realizing he had gone quiet for too long.

"Right, time's up, stop struggling, Potter," Blaise said, and Harry could heard the smirk in the Slytherin's voice. "Drake, your turn."

Draco had a disbelieving look on his face. As Potter couldn't actually say that, it meant that the Golden Boy was likely secretly enjoying the kiss – just like he did. And if it was just anything physical, Potter could always just tell Blaise that he enjoyed the kiss in a physical way but still hated Draco. But he didn't. Draco felt something inside his stomach twinged and nervousness crept all over him. He wondered if Potter too felt the strange dynamic between them that had always been more than just rivalry …

Harry was surprised that Malfoy didn't say anything for a long time and he felt some sort of hope inside him that Malfoy might actually like him, then he tried to tell himself he wasn't hoping for anything like this, not at all. He tried to ignore that his heart seemed to flutter at the idea and tried to convince himself that he wasn't interested in Malfoy, but he couldn't.

The crowd had already turned the attention away since they stopped shouting at each other and went quiet, and now there were just the few of them around. (Hermione had been dragged away by McLaggen again.) Blaise was staring at them calmly and Luna was playing with her butterbeer cork necklace absentmindedly.

"Please do hurry up to confirm your mutual hatred that is just hatred and nothing else," Blaise drawled. "I don't have all night, you see, I've got a pretty girl I could dance with instead of dealing with you two oblivious idiots."

Harry drew a deep breath, and prayed that what he wouldn't regret what he was about to say next, "Alright, you win, Zabini. You're right – I can't say it, because it's not true."

"Potter …" Draco gasped, shocked to actually hear Potter admit that.

Harry turned to face Draco, then turned to Blaise again, and said, "If this is some Slytherin ploy to make fun of me that you two have devised – and somehow tricked Luna into helping you –"

"Tricked Luna?" Blaise snorted. "Don't insult her intelligence, Potter, she's a hundred times sharper than you ever are."

"Shut up," Harry snapped. "As I was saying, if this," he made a gesture, "is just some plan to embarrass me, then I'll hex you both all the way back to Stone Age."

"It isn't," Draco said softly.

A small, nervous smile slowly spread through Harry's face as he said, "thank you."

* * *

Ron and Hermione were extra polite to each other the morning after the party. They both avoided the subject of the party (or McLaggen), until Harry brought it up and told them how he got together with Draco Malfoy last night.

"Blimey, Harry," Ron exclaimed. "That's –"

"Unexpected," Hermione finished for him.

"Yeah," Ron nodded, "I didn't know Malfoy return your feelings."

"Though that explains a lot," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Harry was dumbfounded. "You two – you – 'return my feelings'? How did you know that I – well –"

"You're always so obsessed with him," Ron explained. "I mean, I don't like him much, and you always say you don't either, but – well, you've always been pretty obsessed."

"Totally," Hermione agreed. "It's even more evident this year, but I think it's always been there, even before this year."

"Right," Harry said weakly.

"That's where I win, Granger, Weasley," a voice drawled, and Harry turned around to see Zabini walking over to the Gryffindor table. "Potter, your friends never realized Draco felt the same, but _I_ figured out it's a mutual thing."

Harry scowled. Then he thought of how Blaise had struck a deal with him that ended up getting his best friend and Harry together, and snatching Luna for himself, "You bloody manipulative—"

"—genius, I know. Thank you." Blaise smirked before his tone turned serious, "He told you about his mission last night, didn't he?" At Harry's nod, Blaise scowled slightly, "yes, of course, lover over best friend … he never told me … anyway, I believe you will go to Dumbledore or whatever adult in charge of the Light Side stuff and try to help him and his mother?"

Harry nodded, "I do plan to, don't worry."

Blaise gave Harry a very calculative look and nodded, "Keep my best friend safe, Potter."

"Blaise," another voice appeared and Harry turned to see Draco walking towards them, "I do hope you realize that having heart-to-heart chat with Harry is my privilege, not yours. Go find your girlfriend, Harry and I have an appointment with the headmaster now."

Blaise laughed, "Possessive much, Draco? Don't worry, I'm leaving." He stood up and took his leave gracefully.

Draco's and Harry's eyes met for a moment as they smiled tentatively at each other, then Harry reached out a hand to take Draco's, "Let's go."

As the two of them took off for Dumbledore's office together, Draco felt braver and much hopeful than he had been all semester. He knew that with Harry's help, he would have a much better chance at keeping his mother and himself safe and escaping the Dark Lord's clutches.

And hopefully, everything was going to turn out alright.

-FIN-

* * *

 _A.N.: So, yay, a happy ending : ) Hope you've all enjoyed the adventure, and thanks to all the people who reviewed or favorited or followed, you're wonderful : )_


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